Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Ph.D. Cambridge), is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.

Looking back at the First Edition of The Norton Anthology of African American Literature reminds me that each generation of scholars of African American literature before ours had to reinvent the wheel every time they tried to do research or sat down to plan a class. English literature has been well documented for decades. A student did not want for bibliographies of British scholarship or dictionaries of Shakespearean language, or collections of Elizabethan poetry and edited editions of medieval lyrics. By contrast, there were few comparable volumes for African American literature, and certainly no single book brought together its most important and representative works so that instructors could teach with one authoritative text. The only way for African American literature to become a regular part of the curriculum, to be canonized, was through a Norton anthology. Nortons are the Rolls Royces of anthologies. A Norton anthology is a course in a book. 

The publication of The Norton Anthology of African American Literature meant that teachers could no longer say they lacked access to necessary course materials. Still, the whole project was something of a gamble. Norton wondered if even a thousand copies a year could be sold. When it finally published in 1998, the First Edition became the best-selling First Edition of any Norton anthology. Outside the classroom, Black families purchased the book for their personal collections. On every front, the anthology exceeded expectations, especially in making the African American literature course easier to teach and increasing the number of classes across the country, which broadened and enriched students’ knowledge of African American history and literature. 

Now, three editions later, we take for granted that English departments across the country see steady increases in the number of courses about African American literature and, more generally, include more and more Black authors in their syllabi. However, with diversity under attack, particularly diversity of curricular content, it is more important than ever to have a reliable, accurate, and authoritative collection that can stand up to any scrutiny. No anthology meets that need better than a Norton book.  As with the Second and Third Editions, updates for this Fourth Edition ensure it continues to be authoritative, not only in terms of the cornerstones of Black American literature but also in terms of contemporary representation. Each period editor makes the final call, but we are acutely sensitive to responses from teachers and collect hundreds of reviews before finalizing a new edition. Being a co–general editor of this anthology remains one of the greatest accomplishments of my career. It has also been interesting to be involved in the introduction of the ebook, which further extends the anthology’s accessibility and affordability and guarantees that the Norton book will work for all campus bookstore programs and every type of student learner. 

Long live The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, from the vernacular tradition, which showcases everything from gospel songs to hip-hop, to the full representation of slave narratives from Equiano, Douglass, Jacobs, and others, to the powerful voices of Du Bois, Washington, Brooks, and Baldwin, and on to Hansberry, Baraka, Morrison, Whitehead, and so much more. The wheel does not need to be invented again. It is rolling along just fine, and it is more powerful than ever. 

Thank you,
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